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Watch Friction Record His "FABRICLIVE 70" Promo Minimix

Friction's one of those odd entities in drum & bass. Not odd as in he's a weirdo, but he's been the "next to blow" for so long. The joke on a number of forums was that over a five to seven year period, Friction was the "best new DJ," primarily because he kept winning those kinds of accolades, but we also wonder if people somehow forgot how dope he was and anytime he made some big moves, people instantly remembered to give him his props. He came up through the old Renegade Hardware days, as well as through the Stakka & Skynet/Underfire school before linking with DIllinja's Valve crew, ultimately striking out on his own. He established Shogun Audio and once that took off, and he built a stable group of artists that could help sustain the deeper side of dnb he saw (while still being able to drop mixes featuring some of the scene's most upfront tracks), he moved to this next phase, which includes him being at the helm of the BBC Radio 1 D&B show.

He's one of the most technical DJs out there, coming up like a young Andy C or Mampi Swift, where quick mixing turns into extended teases and blends, seemingly at the fly, helping us discover new tracks mixed with old favorites. It makes sense that Fabric would get Friction to tackle the 70th edition of their Fabriclive series, where his aim was to show his "kind of drum & bass, my take on drum & bass." It's not a selection of dancefloor anthems, but 31 tracks of deep(er) cuts, from Shogun Audio artists to like-minded heads. What's shown here is Friction going into the (mini-)mix, live from Fabric. Great for longtime fans of dnb, or for heads who are new but want to be down. Fabriclive 70 drops on July 15.